Madison, Wisconsin

Madison, Wisconsin is a tightly regulated short-term rental market, and the data below describes how listings in the Madison area STR market performed through September 2026. Operators must treat the home as a primary residence, and non-owner-occupied rentals are capped at 30 nights per licensing year, so most of the opportunity belongs to hosts who live in the property. In September 2026 the average daily rate was $197 and occupancy reached 69.1%, producing average monthly revenue of $3,712 per listing. Compared with a year earlier, occupancy rose 8.7%, ADR rose 4.4%, and revenue rose 14.1%. The Madison area STR market tracks 913 listings. Entire places account for 739 of them (80.9%), private rooms for 173, and shared rooms for 1. By bedroom count, one-bedroom units lead with 412 listings, followed by 217 two-bedroom, 166 three-bedroom, 77 four-bedroom, and 40 five-bedroom listings. On distribution, 601 listings appear on Airbnb only, 71 on Vrbo only, and 241 on both platforms. Demand drivers are well documented. Madison has a population of 285,300, and Madison and Dane County drew a record 9.65 million visitors in 2025, up from 9.2 million in 2024, with about $1.6 billion in direct visitor spending. The Wisconsin State Capitol, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, roughly 145 conventions and meetings per year, and lake and outdoor recreation all generate lodging demand. StaySTRA’s market score for the area is 62.1 overall, with rental demand at 95.0, regulation at 71.8, seasonality at 69.0, investability at 63.5, and revenue growth at 42.7. The pattern is strong demand with moderate growth, held back by rules that limit who can operate.